Automaton
by Marigold Winters
Summary: 23rd Century Japan. Nuclear war is a reality and scientific base The Institute run by mysterious twins happens to have the latest super weapon. Androids. But are they simply that? Or have scientists Kyoya, Haruhi and Nakano found something much bigger? AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again!**

**Okay when I attempted to do a one-shot I didn't anticipate that it'd turn into this mammoth of a story. If science fiction-y stuff isn't your thing then this chapter will be a little slow, but it has a lot of character building stuff within it which you'll want to know as a background. I refuse to make this more than three chapters long. Just in case you missed it- this is definitely AU. It acknowledges that there was once a place called Ouran, which housed a host club- but similarities end there.**

**This is entirely a futurefic.**

**And I am being entirely too ambitious!**

**Full Summary: A strange and troubled scientist creates the ultimate super-weapon, completely by accident. What follows is a race between Japan and America to find his invention before it ends up in the hands of someone with...less scruples than the norm. It ends up in the possession of joint entrepeneurs, the Hitachiin brothers, which isn't really that much better. Nakano, Kyoya and Haruhi, scientists in their employment are forced to analyze these beings whilst battling their morality, their ethics and th efact that it's frustratingly easy to fall for these beings.**

**Primarily Honey/OC, but with some Kyoya/Melinda (:P) and Tamaki/Haruhi thrown in too.**

**I disclaim this show/manga- but the Oc characters (Melinda, Nakani, Pug-face etc.) are mine.**

**~Mari**

**

* * *

**

**December 12****th****, 2110**

**New Tokyo, Japan**

**The Tower, National Historic Library**

_I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I have indeed gone mad, as most would say of me. I do not disagree. Genius requires a certain degree of madness, although I've come to understand that while most accept genius when it benefits them, their blind hypocrisy and unwillingness to accept progress will always separate the true pioneers from the masses. My own peers have, of course, deserted me. I fear it's only a matter of time before agents are breaking down my door, demanding of me my life's work. My creations. _

_Androids, some call them. Robots. How simple their minds are, it is not so difficult to create a robotic helper and program it to function. What I have created is life, sentient beings with the ability to think, and feel and live like a human being. Laboratory grown children cloned from the D.N.A of the great geniuses of the 20__th__ century. They are intelligent, athletic, musical, talented- all of them extraordinarily beautiful._

_These are my children, more so than the child I fathered years ago with that woman. _

_I will never sacrifice them. I have given up everything for them, my family, my daughter, my life. Though I find that as time goes on I begin to see such things as less and less relevant. Eventually, like all great inventors, my genius will be recognized. True, perhaps not until I am long dead, but by then I'll have had the last laugh and they'll be unable to touch me._

_It does not escape me that I need a safe place to hide them; that I require at least some way to guarantee their safety in the event of my own termination, which doubtless will come far sooner than even I expect. At this point entrusting them to my wife seems superfluous, as she will doubtless attempt either to destroy them, or surrender them to the fools who govern our planet. _

_So I have hidden them. In a place I have so sheltered from the world, I dare anybody to find them. _

_I dare you._

_Taken from the journal of Charles Knight_

Sometimes Nakano wished she had the same options other people had. Like quitting her job- oh how she'd love that. Just up and leave all the stress and trauma of the lab and be something relatively normal. Like, a doctor perhaps. Or an environmental researcher- there was money there these days. Her mother was forever going on about the new breakthroughs they'd made concerning nuclear radiation in some form or other and how amazing it was to finally be able to afford that beach house.

But the fact remained that she was a scientist- fiercely devoted to her research. And that was something which was unlikely to ever change.

"What was it you wanted my help with?" She asked the tall, silent figure beside her, never taking her eyes off the petri dish in front of her. Kyoya was a cold, unsociable bastard at the best of times, but he was good at his job, and utterly professional. That was all she'd ever required.

"I've been trying to negotiate with the powers that be, but it seems they won't be moved. They insist that you look at the specimens they found yesterday."

"The ones in the Tower?" She asked, eyebrows scrunching, loafer clad feet shuffling. "What for? I'm not qualified to examine pots or tins or whatever the hell it is they found there. Tell them I'm busy." She grunted.

Historians. Lazy bastards, all of them, when they weren't giving some dry as paper lecture that even _other_ Historians found boring. She'd like to see them actually investigate and excavate the things they read about in their dark rooms, rather than sitting on their asses and growing steadily more anemic whilst leaving the work to people like her.

People so overloaded with work, and extra work, and _paper_ work- God how she despised it- there simply wasn't enough time to be handling anybody else's messes.

Yet here they were.

"We should be so lucky. No, what they found is apparently far more durable than a few pots." Kyoya said coolly. "Far more… interesting. Busy schedule or not, I'd advise you to come with me."

Nakano sighed and looked at the dish, putting aside the microscope she was examining it through and snapping off her rubber gloves. No matter how stupid or half-witted she may consider her government to be, they still paid her bills, it was only intelligent to make nice with them.

Not that she had to like it. When she came home she'd have to re-read the log-books, record all the new data, ensure the equipment was safely put away, construct a whole new theory as to why those embryonic cells were responding the way they did… God, it was exhausting just thinking about it. She wouldn't get to bed until well past midnight. Again.

She looked up, caught the eye of the man tending her insects. He was handsome, very handsome actually. Blue eyes, black hair, tough guy with a soul persona… what wasn't to like? She sighed, bemoaning the loss of yet another date and the sad state of her now almost non-existent social life.

I always preferred blonds anyway, she consoled herself.

"Lead the way, oh great and noble leader." She sighed putting away her equipment efficiently then quickly washed her hands, and tried not to think about the fact she was leaving her lab in the somewhat sweaty hands of the intern.

God, the boy was barely past puberty. She didn't exactly have the same great, unshakeable faith in him as she did say one of her other lab assistants, and for good reason. The newest person in her crew had been with them for a year, this boy had about two solid months of actual experience under his belt.

Yes, she was leaving six months of delicate lab work in his adolescent hands. Blind trust, thy name is Nakano.

"As you wish," Kyoya said blandly, and scribbled something quickly on his clipboard before moving to the door. "Follow me." He said unnecessarily. Nakano followed, somewhat amused. The man was a pillar of ice. Nothing she'd said or done had ever thawed him.

Nothing.

Haruhi had just as little luck figuring the guy out, although with that said he tended to make her life hell in less vindictive ways than he did anybody else, so perhaps…

No. No, of course not. Kyoya be romantically interested in anybody? That was a notion to alien to even comprehend, particularly when he and Haruhi were at opposite ends of the spectrum concerning their values and philosophies. In fact, perhaps what he felt for the girl was more along the lines of brotherly affection, Nakano mused. Somehow she didn't think there was much there to speculate about- though it was always fun to try!

And speaking of her wayward partner...

"Where's our little cross-dresser today?" She asked, fondly remembering finding the tracksuit clad waif she'd found sniffing around her lab. 'Just looking around,' she remembered Haruhi saying. Nakano would've called the police on the random boy, but that random boy had been quite a headstrong girl. And that girl in turn had been quite a capable scientist in her own right, despite being a year younger and so green, Nakano had expected her to photosynthesize. "I could've sworn she was here-"

"She was paged to the office a little over an hour ago." He said. "They're waiting for us, before we're debriefed."

She looked at him curiously.

"And do you know what's going on?"

He scoffed. "That would imply someone running this place actually being organized. Or having the foresight to notify the experts they require- before disaster strikes that is- that they've found a new kind of super weapon."

Nakano blinked. Then stopped.

"Excuse me, I think I heard you incorrectly." She rasped, looking as though someone had stolen everything she held dear, tore it apart and set it alight.

"No." Kyoya said grimly. "The mindless, cow-eyed expression on your face says your ears still function adequately. Apparently this new weapon- whatever it is- is powerful enough that it'll replace nuclear as the weapon of choice in this ridiculous war."

Nakano paled. "Sweet mother of God."

There was a fine line between progression and stupidity, one which was walked by all manner of idiots who did not seem to understand that there was a balance to be found when moving forward. You needed to weigh the pros and cons, research the risks you were taking and decide whether or not what you were doing would affect the world or the environment around you for worse as opposed to better.

Unfortunately, it was somehow idiots who always found a way into the most powerful positions on the planet. Take their current president for example. The mindless lump of a man (why were politicians never attractive?) who- under no provocation at all- had declared war against America as soon as he was in office. This was done on the grounds of a fabricated slight that now, two years and three Chernobyl's later, nobody could even remember.

And those who did remember shuddered in disgust to think that for one minute they had believed that lying, traitorous, murdering son of a bi-

But she digressed.

The room she was in was an obvious and welcome change from the dark , muted colors of her lab. Extravagance was everywhere, although thankfully taste had not been overshadowed by grandeur. Blue and white was the theme, and it was everywhere. A vase on a stand beside the window, pure white walls, pale blue curtains which allowed some of the late afternoon sunlight to slip through.

It was quite beautiful. And the centerpiece was the two men clad in white behind a large wooden desk and seated on a black leather swivel chair. Both beautiful, both seemingly as statuesque in nature as in appearance.

At the moment, she was trying her best to act like a mature, rational adult and not fly at the po-faced man in front of her and choke him to death or some other such thing. Because while very satisfying, she could see it would get her absolutely nowhere, and she was already more than a little self-conscious under the open scrutiny of Hikaru and Kaoru, the two people in charge of the entire facility. The two people she needed- needed- to be on good terms with. God help her if they knew she was calling them by their given names, even in her head.

They were both something of an enigma, their family of course had always been influential within Japan and as such they'd enjoyed the perks of the rich and famous. Among those perks being the right to spend ridiculous amounts of money on frivolity and think nothing of it. The base in which Nakano was studying was one such project, and quite frankly she'd been surprised to have been hired.

They seemed to have chosen their scientists all at random, but Nakano was wary of regarding them as the shallow, perhaps too mischievous and largely 'in-it-for-the-fun' bachelors they attempted to portray themselves as, the entire thing was much too well thought out. To date, they were the only people she knew who could actually follow a conversation with her without getting lost in her tendency to use large words when she was excited.

It got so she'd just taken to asking her friends and colleagues to carry dictionaries around with them.

Apart from being rich and famous, they were also widely desired. No surprise really, given that they had looks and charm in spades and could charm the pants off a brick wall if they so desired. However they didn't take to running around the club scene with all the other 'playboys' for some reason or other. There were rumors that they never dated unless the girl in question could tell them apart.

And they looked so much alike that currently most deemed it impossible (privately, Nakano agreed though she'd still punch out anyone who said otherwise).

So they simply never dated.

Instead they threw themselves into separating themselves from their family's long association to the fashion industry by investing in more educational pursuits, choosing to start with The Institute. The building in which Nakano was currently residing. They'd built the place right after buying the rights to most of Japan's land mass and, with the exception of the president, pretty much ruled the entire country. Along with a select few families- from which she had long suspected Kyoya had come from. But she couldn't prove anything.

And so the rich got richer.

That's what happens when a country goes bankrupt.

They were known for their frivolity, their fickleness, their shameless disregard for the rest of humanity and the boredom they were constantly segued with. Nakano was understandably uncomfortable that they were the ones who had discovered this alleged 'super weapon'. Not that they were bad people.

Their morals just allowed for a bit more leeway than most people's.

"Stop talking." One of them said authoritatively and instantly the po-faced man clammed up. Eyes darting nervously to them, wondering if he'd made a mistake. The twins both regarded him. One with bored dismissal, the other distant amusement.

Which was which? She didn't have a fucking clue.

"You may sit down," the other sniggered, waving to a chair. Yes, definite amusement. She sighed, they were vicious sadists with absolutely no patience for tedious things. Such as 'manners'.

It was kind of admirable.

"I'm curious Ms. Fukushima," the seemingly calmer one leaned forward on the massive mahogany desk he sat behind and rested his chin on his fists. "What do you expect to find? You don't seem entirely thrilled by the prospect of being a part of what is, perhaps, the greatest scientific discovery of our time."

"With all due respect," She said tightly. "Neither would any other scientist asked to 'okay' a weapon of mass destruction which will later be unleashed on countless innocent citizens for the sake of a war which boils down to a 'mine is bigger than yours' pissing contest."

Don't shout at the boss. It would not be wise.

"But it's much more than that!" The pudgy man broke his vow of silence suddenly. "To quote the two..er..gentlemen here," his eyes flicked nervously to the twins. "This is truly the greatest scientific discovery of the age and you're willing to let that slip through our fingers for something as trivial as… as a few personal qualms?"

"I hardly think ethics are trivial." Nakano shot back hotly. "What happened to these people was wrong in the first place, and by using them in such a way we're furthering an injustice which should have been punished long ago. Of course I disagree!"

"This is not ethics." He protested. "This is science. And this is why women should never have been allowed to set foot in a lab. Your maternal instincts are far too unreliable."

The silence following that statement was forebodingly loud. Every other man in the room winced and wondered how much would be left of him by the time the meeting was over.

"Excuse me?" Haruhi said dangerously from where she'd been quietly sitting for most of the meeting, in a comfortable armchair positioned comfortably adjacent to the twins' desk. For the whole discussion she'd been largely an observer, and as her senior, Nakano tended to handle things in such meetings more often than not. However, she could not simply keep quiet in the face of such brazen ignorance.

The twins watched the proceedings with detached interest, not lifting a finger to deter the argument from escalating any further.

Nakano glanced sharply at the one sitting in the large leather armchair. He'd muttered something suspiciously like 'I wish I had popcorn'.

"What has my sex got to do with my ability to navigate a lab?" Haruhi demanded. "And how does that enter into this argument at all? What we are discussing is whether or not to reveal this discovery to the military, not whether women should be allowed to continue lab work."

"Of course we should reveal it. It's our patriotic duty!" The man squeaked, looking to Kyoya for affirmation that the man pointedly did not give. He floundered for a moment. "Besides, this could- this _will _make us famous." He gushed, and kept talking when it would have been wiser to take note of the fact that Nakano had gotten ominously quiet all of a sudden. "We'll be huge. International! This will make us more famous than Einstein dammit!"

Nakano pursed her lips, resisting the urge to throw a vase across the room simply to hear the satisfying crash as the precious china crumbled to pieces before her eyes and littered the expensive white carpet.

"If you want to be famous then walk the fuck out of my lab, pick up a fucking microphone and a guitar and go pollute cyberspace somewhere." He took a step back. Her eyes were lit, betraying the depth of her anger. "If you want to be a scientist, however, then sit down and make your fucking case like a grown man. Rest assured, you do not impress me at the moment and I see no reason to enter into a discussion with you if you don't have an actual point to make."

He sat down.

"Thank you." She said, already tired. Then stood up and walked to the desk. "I apologize for the scene," she said through gritted teeth. "But you've seen more than enough to gather that I'm inherently against turning these people into killing machines. It is simply not possible anyway. I'm a _scientist_, not a messiah, not a magician, not a miracle worker."

"But these are not people." The louder twin gave her a cat-like smirk. "These are clones. They do not possess any knowledge of themselves or the world around them and are utterly incapable of emotional response to it if they did."

"With all due respect sir, we don't know that yet." Haruhi cut in. "They could very well be totally aware of their surroundings, and depending on whether or not they've been automated they could also very well be capable of emotion. It is a common misconception, but as a clone they have been required to go through the whole process of growing up. Surrogate mother and all. They're human, until proven otherwise."

"No they're not!" The small man protested, once again forgetting he was supposed to be keeping his trap shut, under threat of Nakano doing terrible things to his pug face wile he slept. She was the head scientist. She had every key to every door in this dump. "They're no better than robots. They do not feel or think or understand anything that's-"

"And have you come to this conclusion after extensive research, spending time with the subjects in question and repeated trial and error?" Nakano interrupted. "If not then I do not want to hear your voice again, you ignorant half-wit."

"Call yourself a scientist." Haruhi shook her head, staring at the man incredulously and wondering how exactly it could come about that idiots like himself could actually have a PHD to their names.

Kyoya merely stared at the man as though he were merely an annoying bug on the windshield of his life. One that could be squashed easily with a fly swatter or a pair of heavy duty army shoes. Not liking the glint in the bespectacled man's eyes, the pug-faced man wisely shut up.

"I have calculated the monetary benefit of revealing this weapon," Kyoya finally added his two cents, looking speculatively at his clipboard. Haruhi and Nakano's faces faulted.

Of course he'd bring up money.

"While it is not an insignificant amount, I believe that simply being in possession of such a weapon would be enough to ensure yourselves status as the most powerful men in the world. There's no particular reason to rush into anything with anyone."

The twins looks at each other, then grinned as one. "Nice." They said in unison.

Tired and already feeling a familiar ache growing between her ears, Nakano addressed her superiors, deciding that she really didn't need another headache today. How she hated dealing with stupid people.

"What would you have had in mind if I did examine your 'discoveries'?"

"You don't have much to worry about…" One said, not looking too ruffled by the discussion at all.

"Considering how we don't like sharing."

"So the government?"

"They can go to hell." This was said calmly, as though they weren't breaking so many laws just thinking about this. Pug-face looked like he'd give himself an aneurism, Nakano noted. She wondered if he wanted help. "This is our toy. Well, unless they offer us something better." He said flippantly, shrugging and brushing invisible lint from his sleeves.

"Then we might consider it." The loud one sat himself on his brother's lap, interlacing their fingers as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Pug-faced man's eyes bulged. The others remained unfazed.

Four years tended to desensitize you somewhat.

"But it's unlikely." They finished in unison.

"Do I have free reign? And access to everything?" Nakano challenged.

"Within reason." They both nodded. She stared at them for a long moment.

"Fine." She finally snapped. "Kyoya, call a team to meet us in the autopsy room, in five minutes. Bring any and every article book or video you can find regarding the cloning process." He raised his brows expressively.

"Yes, I do mean all of them." She reiterated. "Haruhi, let's go find these so called 'super weapons'." She pinched the bridge of her nose and walked out of the room with a world weary sigh.

Well, there went her dinner plans. Tall dark and sinfully hot would have to wait. Though she was kidding herself if she didn't think he had a backup plan.

Guys who looked like that often did.

* * *

In the back of her mind, she supposed she had not really fully understood that what she would be working with were beings who, regardless of their actual humanity, looked human. So the fact that they were lying in glass boxes and suspended in some jelly-like cushioning substance had a pretty large impact.

"Lay them vertical on the tables, then leave." She instructed the crew around her. "I'd like to spend some time examining them with my colleagues."

It was done with the usual unnecessary hustle and bustle people used to linger in a room long after a job was completed. Nakano couldn't even find it within her to snap at them. She'd be curious too. In her twenty-three years, she'd never seen anything quite like it.

"How long do you think they've been like that?" Haruhi asked, her voice conveying the quiet awe se felt.

"Ten years." Kyoya whispered beside them. "They were created by a scientist named Charles Knight in an attempt to create a more stable cloning process. Which he eventually managed, but not before he stumbled upon this."

Nakano rose a hand to get him to stop for a moment. It was obvious every ear in the room was hanging on his every word. "What are you waiting for?" She glared, using her best 'mother' voice. "Move!"

About two people actually jumped and the rest of her thirty man strong crew filed quickly through the door in a flurry of white lab-coats. Then the room was quiet apart from the steady hum of the machines and the regular beep of the four heart monitors in the room. Kyoya moved to the first glass box- Nakano shuddered, she couldn't erase the image of a coffin she got from the things- and barely grazed it with the tips of its fingers.

Within, a young girl with a shock of bright white hair lay as if sleeping. "This is amazing." He said. "I never thought I'd ever see anything like it. I assumed when I found the journal… but this is truly amazing."

"Journal?" Nakano asked, bemused. "Wait a minute, let's rewind a bit. Start from the beginning, right to the end, and don't leave anything out."

Haruhi pushed two chairs together, and hopped onto one of the examining tables. Nakano didn't berate her. Priorities; she had them. Instead she took the chair offered and waited for the somber, intelligent man to continue. He tore his eyes away from the girl and sat down beside her in one fluid motion.

"I've told you most of it." He said, brow furrowed. "Charles Knight was a scientist in the early 22nd Century made famous for his breakthrough in stem cell research. At the time the only way to clone artificially- as in not occurring naturally in twins- was to use somatic cell nuclear transfer. Removing the D.N.A from a human embryo and introducing the D.N.A from a skin cell by combining the two. Very few of these survived however, and the ones that did grew into blastocysts. Tiny cell clusters from which stem cells were extracted." He took a breath.

"Wait a minute." Haruhi interrupted. "This was done during the 21st Century as well. From what I recall they didn't quite succeed. In fact most of their alleged 'success' was found to be, well, a lie."

"True." Kyoya agreed. "But they didn't have the equipment Charles had by the 22nd Century and therefore he had a significant advantage over his predecessors. He had robotic technologies at his fingertips by then as well, and his training as first a Neurologist, then brain surgeon prepared him for the delicate process of inserting automaton technology into otherwise human D.N.A.

"He got lucky the first time, and asked four different women to be a surrogate for these four embryos. He chose from the most influential families at that time. The Suous, the Redmonds, the Takashis and the Haninozukas."

"Wait," Nakano frowned. "I seem to remember something about him being married, didn't he have daughter too?"

Kyoya looked at her. "Yes. And?"

She stared. Would it be undignified to get sick right then?

"So… did he use his own D.N.A?" Haruhi pressed, biting her bottom lip hard. That seemed to throw him, he looked at the battered red journal in his hands, fingers clenching and unclenching around it.

"I… I don't know. There's so much that's completely indecipherable." He looked at the book thoughtfully. "I could try to-"

"It's okay Kyoya. Leave it." Nanako said, troubled by the information she'd just been tossed with. God, it was like school all over again. "We'll find out soon enough, we'll test their blood and look for genetic similarities. Then we'll begin analysis of their overall health." She frowned, thinking. "Then we'll try and see if we can wake them up, shall we?"

Guess who wasn't getting any sleep for the next week or so.

* * *

_The world around him was moving slowly… and he heard voices. They were difficult to decipher, reaching him distortedly, as though he were under water. His arms wouldn't move, he seemed to be somehow paralyzed._

…_He remembered now. Father had not wanted them to be damaged if they were to be someday released from their hiding place. His family must be with him… they would not simply take one, would they? No, impossible. _

_Light was filtering from someplace, painting his eyelids red and orange, making it harder to remain asleep. His jaw tensed… no use, nothing moved, not yet._

"…See if we can wake them up shall we?" _A voice was saying, tiredly. High but somehow husky, obviously female. Somewhere to his left…?_

_The shadow of the voice moved over his 'bed' and warm hands touched the glass. A surge of electricity travelled through his body, not quite painful but not pleasant either. Something was beeping rapidly and more voices were raised, exclaiming in alarm. His eyes opened._

_Someone screamed._


	2. Chapter 2

**_So I finally got a break from... life in general and I wanted to finish this. To all my fellow geeks- thanks for reviewing and I apologize for not having responded in person but I simply have very little time to do so. But now I do so the point is moot. :)_**

**_Disclaimer; They don't belong to me... sad right?_**

**_This is part 2 of a three part installation and I have entirely too much time on my hands right now!_**

**Full Summary: A strange and troubled scientist creates the ultimate super-weapon, completely by accident. What follows is a race between Japan and America to find his invention before it ends up in the hands of someone with...less scruples than the norm. It ends up in the possession of joint entrepeneurs, the Hitachiin brothers, which isn't really that much better. Nakano, Kyoya and Haruhi, scientists in their employment are forced to analyze these beings whilst battling their morality, their ethics and the fact that it's frustratingly easy to fall for these beings.**

_**Better writing courtesy of writing workshops. Just in case you're like 'dude, so not the same person!' :D**_

_**~mari**_

_

* * *

_

_Androids, some call them. Robots. How simple their minds are, it is not so difficult to create a robotic helper and program it to function. What I have created is life, sentient beings with the ability to think, and feel and live like a human being. Laboratory grown children cloned from the D.N.A of the great geniuses of the 20__th__ century. They are intelligent, athletic, musical, talented- all of them extraordinarily beautiful…_

_Taken from the journal of Charles Knight_

There was so much wrong with what they were doing Nakano was afraid to move too much in case she jarred her conscious back into existence and fell to the torrent of guilt waiting to apprehend her. It was easy enough to agree to it, she mused. 'Yes Mr. Hitachiin, of course I'll examine the specimens. Please don't take away my funding' but when put into practice, she felt like the lowest piece of vermin.

And she was in the lab again because, yeah for some reason it made it easier to ignore the guilt if she was too focused on studying them. It was hard, especially when they were awake, staring at her curiously, scared the girl was getting panicky again, damn.

"Kyoya, any results to those blood samples you took?" She asked, writing feverishly into her notebook. Haninozuka test subject; blonde hair, blue eyes, physically young-

"Not since you asked me five minutes ago, no." Was the dry response. " If you like I could ask the magic lab fairy to procure the results you want."

"Haruhi's out collecting samples." Nakano fell back gratefully on the familiar banter. "I'll just have to make do with you I suppose. What are your most recent observations?"

Kyoya looked up from the blood samples he was studying quietly under a microscope and looked at her, carefully replacing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "That you have not left this lab in two days, you look like death warmed over and the temps are currently running bets on how long it'll be 'till you burn out." He shrugged. "You've got pretty good odds, but we're far too busy for you to collapse now."

"Not that you're worried for me." Nakano smiled wryly, recognizing his concern for what it was.

"Of course not. If you did collapse, I would simply step over your body where it lay and carry on. However I'm sure we'll need your brain at some point so I must insist that you leave now or I will force you bodily from this room."

Nakano sighed. He would too, she knew the man well enough to recognize when he spoke in jest. Which, you know, was never, but you never quite knew with Kyoya. His sense of humor was… warped, to say the least and she'd rather not run the risk.

Besides, he was right. Staying in the lab all day staring at the ethereal creatures befoe them was not healthy on any level.

"I'll be back later tonight. Send for me if anything happens."

"Of course." He said coolly, arching a brow expectantly. He didn't say another word until she'd stood up and gathered her research together. A quick sweep of the lab told her everything was in order. She relly couldn't help the way they lingered on the test subjects.

Nakano winced as the Haninozuka subject blinked at her curiously and tilted its head. She shivered.

"You're right, I need some sleep." She muttered, walking out of the room.

"I usually am." Kyoya said matter-of-factly as he returned to the samples he was examining. Nakano walked out of the lab with careful measured steps as unused limbs readjusted themselves to movement again. It was pretty quiet in the mornings and the cold antiseptic halls led her to her rooms. She typed in the pass code automatically and threw herself down on her bed as soon as the doors shut behind her.

She would sleep. It would be correct to say she wouldn't sleep well. Not when her dreams were imprinted with visions of cornflower blue eyes staring innocently up at her. It was wrong what they were doing and Nakano would be the first to admit it, If only because her overactive conscience was doing a pretty good job of making her life hell for her.

The problem was nobody actually knew that these war claims were genuine, and she was terrified of reaching the conclusion of these experiments to find that they were false anyway and she'd essentially imprisoned four innocent people in her lab for months.

"Computer, display lab visual." She flipped on her back and waited for the holographic image to materialize in front of her face. Kyoya was still at his desk, glasses off and placed neatly to the side while he delicately tweaked the focus to examine the blood cells on the cells.

Except he wasn't looking at the slide at all. Nakano followed his gaze but didn't have to guess what he was staring at. His knuckles were white with restrained tension. Nakano watched him, taking in his profile and could only think that at least she wasn't the only one who found this exercise so inherently wrong.

"Zoom test subject A, forty-five degrees." She spoke the command softly, biting her lip when Haninozuka's small frame filled the screen. She bit her lip as she examined his limp form, hair flopping onto his forehead, a tube running into his mouth and nose feeding him oxygen and whatever nutrients he needed to stay healthy.

Nakano wished from time to time that she wasn't quite so susceptible to blue eyes. They were just so rare and she'd always had a fascination with them, which, worryingly, was translating itself to a fascination with her test subject.

"Fuck." She breathed.

"Command invalid." The computer intoned.

Test subject B, was placed in the observation room for physical examination, looking for all the world like he was hitting on Haruhi. Nakano felt her heart drop another seven feet and had to force herself to objectively note his behavior as unusual for a robotic life-form.

"Take a deep breath." Haruhi pressed a stethoscope to his bare chest. The blond gave her a brilliant smile, evidently hell-bent on charming her and complied easily. She listened for a few moments and jotted down something in her notes. "Thank you."

"Your wish is my command." He said flirting cheerfully, sounding for all the world like he wasn't under intense scrutiny on all sides.

Haruhi was going through the motions with all the quiet patience of a person who knew they could do their job in their sleep.

"You have a heartbeat." She smiled, putting away the stethoscope. "All things considered at least there's that."

"Oh I have much more than that Princess." He smiled roguishly. "If you're considering a full body exam, why don't we take this somewhere more private?" He indicated the mirrored glass windows. Haruhi blinked, slightly off kilter.

"Er well… erm, I'm sure Kyoya is taking care of that. You need rest. Are you experiencing any pain?" She was back to professional Haruhi. The flush on her cheeks stayed stubbornly vibrant though.

"I have a beautiful lady touching me," he said softly. "I'm better than I have been in a very long time."

"That's inappropriate." She admonished.

"I apologize," he said, watching her every move. "I can't seem to stop talking around you, you inspire the words of my soul to spill from my mouth. You're very beautiful."

"And you're very drugged. I'll ask them to cut back on your Morphine intake." She pursed her lips. He merely smiled up at her beatifically.

"Ah, but if I am drugged it is by the sweet sound of your voice, nothing a mere chemical may induce."

"High as a kite." Haruhi muttered. "Should've known you were hallucinating."

The Suoh subject chuckled under his breath. "If I'd known before this is what it would be like, I'd have happily spent half my life completely stoned and the other half dreaming of you."

Haruhi flushed a deep dark red, ducked her head and didn't answer.

Nakano had had enough, snapping the lid back on her pen she slammed the clipboard she was using onto her desk. "They are not supposed to be human." She trembled with frustration, and anger. "I can't do this."

"You haven't got a choice." Kyoya said, eyes hard. "You are a professional and this is just another job."

Nakano laughed harshly, not missing the way his eyes flickered over to test subject C every so often, she was sitting cross-legged in a different observation room. All three rooms were soundproofed and sported a large double-sided mirror all facing the control room. Nakano was grateful she'd had the foresight to keep the room on restricted access.

"Just a job." She muttered. It had never been just that and Kyoya knew that damn well. "Sounds like a justification to me. And a pretty weak one too."

"I live to serve." He drawled. "Considering we have another week to get this done, we can't afford to get too attached anyway."

Nakano pursed her lips. "Right."

And yes, she was still quite pissed off by the fact that she'd been told in no uncertain terms by the twin powers themselves that they did not believe she was working to full ability and that they were giving her another week to finish the project and show some results before they pulled the plug and hired another scientist altogether.

"Computer, enter combat mode. Test subject B, reflexes."

"Entering combat mode." The computer intoned dully and Nakano sat back against her chair and watched.

Haninozuka was in the green observation room, eating. She had discovered his sweet tooth and had discretely indulged herself, even more convinced that someone so unassuming and seemingly innocent could be considered a weapon. Genetically engineered human beings.

God, she hoped she was wrong.

There was a moment where she thought the first blade would make contact and almost terminated the test entirely with an entirely irrational rush of panic. Then in a move almost too quick to follow he suddenly twisted his body, snatching the blade out of midair simultaneously and landing in a martial arts stance.

Nakano blinked, mouth falling open slowly. "First simulation." She commanded after a moment of debate. The man suddenly in the room, clad in black from head to toe was merely a combat aide, a robotic intelligence that possessed the ability to learn and adapt that was standard for most higher forms of combat training.

They were… difficult to beat to say the least. Although it seemed nobody had told that to the blond blinking at the sudden apparition in confusion.

"Hello." He offered with a smile as sweet as the candy he was slowly devouring. The aide made no such attempts at civility and merely attacked. Haninozuka jumped back, dodging the slash of a blade and then to the side as the aide advanced.

The blond boy frowned, obviously disturbed by this. "Hey- what are you doing? Who are you?"

It was a game for a while. A series of quick swipes which Haninozuka would always only just manage to dodge before gracefully moving, lightening-quick to the other end of the room, baiting the aide. It didn't last long,

"Computer, level two, direct contact sparring."

"Level two initiated."

It was all over from the moment the aide landed a roundhouse kick in the boy's ribs. He didn't even flinch, his eyes merely got a little colder. "That wasn't very nice." He said.

It didn't last long after that. Three moves was all it took. He sent an uppercut to the combat aide's jaw that had the computer sending error reports to the control room. He dodged a blow, moved behind the robot, grabbed its neck and twisted.

The useless machinery lost the illusion of humanity and fell to the ground in an ugly crash of metal. Haninozuka stood there, barely breathing, then turned around and stared at the glass.

Straight through the glass, at Nakano. But that was… that was impossible of course.

"Please stop." He said quietly. "I don't wanna fight. Please."

Nakano's breath caught and she hesitated for only a moment grabbed her things, whirling out of the room with Kyoya following close behind.

"So we know subject B at least is more than capable of what they say he is." Kyoya started quietly. "I doubt we need any other tests after that display in there, and I doubt we need to extend this project longer than it already has been."

"Kyoya." Nakano stared straight ahead and taking short brisk steps. "I'm quite aware that you're trying to make me feel better, but don't. I can't ignore this anymore."

Kyoya sighed. "Fine. I'll tell Haruhi to meet us in the lab in half an hour."

"Thank you." Nakano said. "Give everyone else the day off. I don't want anyone within ten meters of the place."

"God forbid that anyone actually be doing work." Kyoya muttered and left.

By the time Kyoya and Haruhi found her in the lab, Nakano had composed herself to something resembling competence and was capable of more than terse, monosyllabic answers. Just barely. She wore her civilian clothes and sat perched on one of the many stools in the room.

She was also staring carefully at the other three people in the room with her. The two blonds looked up, tense and poised to run as soon as the doors admitted Kyoya and Haruhi and both had to restrain themselves from either screaming- the latter- or chewing Nakano out- the former.

"They're in on it too?" The Suoh subject demanded of Nakano. She tilted her head.

"Yes. I told you. This is far bigger than you ever imagined." She said simply.

Kyoya's face flushed with barely restrained anger. "Fukushima." He said dangerously. "What the fuck? You cannot possibly be this _stupid_."

The Suoh froze and stared. "Ootori- you're an Ootori." He smiled suddenly. "Yes! They know me, they know we're not dangerous." He told Nakano earnestly. "Ask him."

Nakano's face remained impassive, simply because if she started using expression now the next few hours would be hell on her facial muscles.

"Nakano." Haruhi said blinked in fascinated horror as she saw the three subjects out of their pods in the light of day and came to the same conclusion Nakano had. Were it not for the slightly bluish tinge to their skin they could be so, well, human. "You are fucking insane."

"I concur." Kyoya bristled. "How exactly did this make sense when you justified it to yourself?"

"I'm not a murderer. I'm not a jailer. This is not science- it's a fucking farce." She said,. "I can't be a part of it anymore."

"So you say." A voice drawled in amusement. A red-head dressed impeccably strolled into the room, followed closely by his rather distracted twin. "However good scientist, your colleagues are right. Apart from the fact any of those three could kill you with a flick of their wrists- they're ours."

"Ours to jail if we choose."

"Ours to use."

"Which makes you, a thief."

Christ, she fucking hated the telepathy thing.

"We'd never touch a lady!" The Suoh subject exclaimed, scandalized. Nakano smiled and raised her brow in a very obvious 'you see' fashion. The taller blond was… strange. That was putting it nicely. He was just so flippant about, well everything.

"So Mori is… he's dead?" Haninozuka was saying quietly, voice trembling. "We've just been asleep for the past few decades and now everyone's dead?"

Nakano nodded. No words to say to that really.

"And my parents too? My brother?"

"I'm sorry." Nakano bit her lip. If it were possible to feel any lower she was succeeding admirably. The loose hoodie she wore disguised her figure, and the fact that she seemed to have lost two stone somewhere over the course of the last few months and her body was doing a great impression of a skeleton.

He looked at her with tear-filled eyes. "And you want me to be, what? A weapon?"

"Yes." One of the HItachiins- who knew which- said cheerfully. "You're the reason Japan's going to win this war."

"No thank you." The girl spoke for the first time, eyes narrowed as she stared at everyone around her with mistrust. She held Haninozuka's hand. "Why should we trust anything you say?" Her eyes flicked to the side where Kyoya impassively watched the proceedings. Nakano saw one of the twins raise a curious brow.

They didn't miss much.

"You have no family, nowhere to go, nothing to even suggest you were alive before we found you. I think you'll find working with us to be mutually beneficial." A beat. "I don't deny however, that Kaoru and I would take a considerable amount of credit for whatever feats of heroism you do achieve. It'd be great for business."

Hikaru shrugged his slender shoulders and stared under his bangs at the assembled group. One arm slung over his brother's shoulders affecting a casual air which belied how uncomfortable he was. Nakano moved to her desk, rifled through the sheaf of papers there and produced a book bound in black leather.

"This is the journal of Charles Knight." She said, voice flat as she retreated visibly into herself. The hastily muffled gasp only threw her off for a moment and she stared at her employers, determined to turn her head and seek its source. "Kyoya and I have pored over its contents and we still can't find anything to suggest why he'd go to such lengths to do this. It's not a scientific journal, it's more like a diary."

She rubbed the cover absently with her thumb. Then placed the book gently on the table. Kaoru shrugged off his brother's arm and went to pick it up.

"It starts after your birth." She addressed Haninozuka, When did he simply become Haninozuka? Fuck. "As the oldest it details your nursing, your first word, the day you learned to walk." Her throat closed up, and she fought to keep the bile rising in her throat, swallowed and continued. "Alongside that it details your rather unique abilities, oddities in your D.N.A, things that human beings as a rule should not be capable of doing."

Haruhi took over, moving to stand beside her and smoothly allowing Nakano a breath or two to calm herself again. "He made Superman. You know the story, right?"

"Man of Steel, indestructible. I get the general gist." Hikaru drawled.

"Like that, except without the aversion to Kryptonite. In fact as far as I can see they're not susceptible to any form of attack."

"We're trained in all the martial arts, sword fighting, boxing, can handle any weaponry you put in our hands plus more." The white haired girl said quietly. "If we wanted to, we could kill you and be gone before anyone ever raised an alarm. This is exactly why Charles hid us. He knew what would happen if we were found." Her eyes flashed accusingly. "He was right."

"And that brings up a very interesting question." Kyoya said, eyes fixed on Nakano. "Why exactly are they out of their control rooms?"

"Are you questioning your superior, Kyoya?" She asked, just as deadly calm.

"Why yes, I believe I am. Humor me for a moment, regale us inferior beings with the brilliance of your logic."

"I was getting to that. Don't be a bitch Ootori." She said, blinking once to get her bearings again as yet another wave of nausea took her. "This entire experiment was based on the theory that we believed our test subjects to be humanoid- not human."

She was silent for a long time. Haruhi's face drained of all color.

"That isn't possible. No fucking way."

Nakano laughed bitterly. "Cryogenically frozen and perfectly preserved. I didn't even take it into consideration because I thought there was no way any human being could have survived that long, even in deep freeze. Apparently I was wrong."

"Will someone explain to me what you two are on about?" Kaoru glared.

"I'm not so sure myself Mr. Hitachiin." Nakano pursed her lips. "Our intelligence at the end of the last century only spanned to the creation of AI. Artificial, computerized intelligence and the beginnings of the cloning process. It was all machines and wires, not flesh and blood."

"So they're special. We knew that." Hikaru drawled, unimpressed. "I still don't see the cause for concern."

"The cause for concern as you aptly put it, is this." Nakano gritted her teeth. "These people are as much flesh and blood as you or I. No nanobites in their bloodstreams, not hidden wires, no microchips, pure human."

"Which means that Charles Knight, for all that he tried to claim they were clones, lied." Haruhi said simply. "He tested on the undeveloped fetus' of these surrogate mothers without their knowledge to produce, super beings."

"Which means that what we're doing is illegal and unethical on so many levels it makes my head spin."

"Which means that I cannot have any part of this either." Haruhi shook her head in disbelief. "Not if you're going to make me treat human beings like lab rats."

Kyoya stared at his colleagues, face impassive once more.

"I feel gentlemen, that we are at an impasse." He said. "Nakano and Haruhi make an excellent point, however I agree that an end to this war is equally as desirable. So what do we do now?"

The twins exchanged glances. Then shrugged.

"Tea, I think." Said one- it was hard to tell which, the both kept moving around. "And perhaps something to eat."

"Than a meeting, perhaps we can work out some kind of a deal." The other agreed.

Nakano turned her gaze on the three silent figures watching the proceedings with hard, impenetrable expressions. They stood poised, not quite on the attack but tense and ready to run. Redmond, Suoh and Haninozuka. Eyebrows raised. "Well, are you up for it?"

"I thought we were just your test subjects? We have a say in this now?" The girl said, eyes piercing. It cut Nakano to the quick, though she really couldn't blame the other girl.

"Yes." Was all she said.

"Fine."

Haninozuka stared at nothing, tears marred cornflower blue.

They ended up in the control room, sitting at the large oak table and collectively doing their best to ignore the fact that it was strewn with magazines, powder boxes, and somebody had spilled a cup of cheap coffee that had congealed into a sticky mess.

"Quaint." Hikaru, or Kaoru- whichever- had taken out a handkerchief and brushed down their chair before they sat on it, the other twin resting comfortably on their lap. Nakano took the seat just to the left of them and hid her trembling hands under the desk. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Yesterday.

"Now gentlemen, I'm sure you don't want to be here as much as I do, so I'll be brief." She started immediately. "Unless you can find some alternative to… this," she indicated the people around the table with a sweep of her hand, "then regretfully, I shall have to hand in my resignation."

"You really do feel quite strongly about this don't you?" Hikaru- his hair was parted to the left today she noted with no small pleasure at having figured it out- said, simultaneously bemused and curious.

She let the silence be its own answer.

"Admirable. However I'm not quite sure what it is you're proposing to do."

She turned her attention to the three people remaining tactfully silent around the table. She screwed her face up. "Listen," she addressed them all collectively. "I apologize. It was sloppy on my part especially not to realize that you… what you were. Unfortunately Messers Hitachiin were correct earlier when they said that the least of your problems was whether or not you would be set free. Which at this point would almost be worse than if we kept you here, the world outside is vastly different o the world you remember. And much less forgiving."

"At least we'd be free." The girl said, not accusing anymore. Simply contemplative. "Whatever about paperwork. All three of us come from wealthy families, there're sure to be places we can stay until someone shows up to 'claim' us as the case may be."

"That would be the best course of action." Kyoya agreed quietly. "If not for the fact that in the purge your families were among the first to fall."

There was cold silence.

"Break it to us nicely why don't you." Redmond's voice trembled, the words rushing out in a breath as though there were not enough oxygen in her lungs to form them properly.

"There's nothing nice to break." Kyoya said matter-of-factly. "The most powerful families were in opposition to the president, every single one of them either died in mysterious circumstances or were convicted to the mines on fabricated charges. Nobody's left."

"So we have no choice?" Haninozuka looked up, face set. "We have to stay here, and if we leave we'll die like the rest of our family?"

Haruhi winced. "Well when you say it like that…"

"How else can they say it?" Nakano laughed mirthlessly. "It's true, they're bloody prisoners, just like the rest of us."

"Fukushima." Kyoya warned.

"Don't start." She snapped. "I'm at the end of my fucking rope right now Ootori and if you so much as suggest that this situation is any less than it is I will tear your fucking head off. Understood?"

He smiled tersely. "Clear as crystal."

"Good." She heaved a breath. "Sorry. I'm hormonal and I haven't eaten. Can we just get on with this please?"

"By all means." Kaoru smirked. "You said you had an idea?"

"What…" her mind was blank for a moment before the light bulb finally turned back on. She was really hungry. "Oh, yes. Right. You understand that the situation with the war is verging on desperate?" She clarified. They shook their heads in unison.

Scary.

"Okay," she internally cursed her lack of foresight. They'd have to be re-taught everything they thought they knew, at least in regards to history because… shit. "Okay." She said again. "Japan has a president. He had allusions to greatness and decided he didn't have enough power. He achieved this by…by…"

Her vision grew blurry and she swayed in her seat, steadied abruptly by Kyoya grabbing her arm hurriedly. Her stomach lurched and groaned and she had a pounding headache.

"Shit. I just need a sandwich and I'll be fine." She tried to brush it off. Kyoya was having none of it.

"I think you need to go and rest, Fukushima. Now." His voice brooked no arguments. "You haven't had a steady diet since we started this project. Eat something. I don't want to see your face for the next two days."

She looked around the table. "Kyoya, we're in the middle of something." She pursed her lips, frowning in concentration as blood pounded in her ears.

"Yes, _we_ are." He rose a perfectly shaped brow. "You, however, are leaving."

And, well, yeah. Nakano knew when she was beaten. This would not end well if she tried to argue with him.

"Okay." She acquiesced, tired. "Just fill me in if anything happens." She paused, then got up and left silently, the sleeves of her jumper hanging over her hands.

Worried blue eyes followed her progress until she left the room and their owner could only hear the steady clip of her slow gait.

_Here the Dolphins walk like men_

_Here the cyborgs have a plan_

_Sir Greendown _

_I need your shining light_

_Let's leave in an hour _

_Meet me at the tower_

_I'm in love_

_~ Janelle Monae 'Sir Greendown'_


End file.
